"You are not going to pass through Belgium and Luxembourg?"

On September 25th, Hersmann and Chloe and Rudolph. The Hess stayed together in Villa Torlonia in Rome, where the Mussolini family lived. Mr. and Mrs. Hesman and Mr. and Mrs. Hess moved in as VIPs.

At dinner that day, the Italian leader also asked questions about Germany's "passing through Belgium and Luxembourg." The Italian leader, like the British and French military strategists, believed that Germany would attack France from the ground only through Belgium and Luxembourg, as in the last world war.

"Why pass through Belgium and Luxembourg?" Hersman put down his knife and fork, shrugged his shoulders and said, "What does General Duhei's theory of air supremacy say?" 'Air supremacy is victory. Without air supremacy is doomed to defeat and accept whatever conditions the victors are willing to impose. And we in Germany have a much more powerful air force than France and England! We now have 4,000 of the most modern fighters and bombers, which in the Polish campaign basically wiped out the Polish Air Force, which had more than 1,000 aircraft, in just a few hours, with minimal losses of their own. On September 3, our planes also bombed Scarpa Bay, destroyed 3 British aircraft carriers, sank 2 British battleships, and severely damaged several others!

And we have a lot of heavy bombers that we can use to destroy Paris, Lyon and Marseille. I have 1000 heavy bombers, and 1300 twin-engine medium bombers. The former can carry 8 tons of bombs, and the latter can also carry 2-3 tons of bombs! At my command, 10,000 tons of bombs will fall on Paris tonight! ”

Hersman, of course, was bluffing, he simply did not have 1000 heavy bombers, not even 100, and the number of medium bombers was less than 1000. And Hersmann did not intend to raze Paris to the ground with a plane.

However, after becoming chief of the General Staff, Hersman's first order was to the Strategic Deception Bureau. He demanded that the Bureau of Strategic Deception release enough and true false information to convince the French that thousands of tons of bombs would soon fall on Paris - and that so many bombs would fall from the sky every day!

"Plus, our navy is strong enough!" Hersman said proudly, "The British had only four fast aircraft carriers before the war, and they lost three at Scapa Bay, and now there is only one 'Ark Royal' left to accompany the fleet." And we now have two 'Seydlitz' class!

This will allow us to send 2 fleets of broken ships with fast battleships and fast aircraft carriers. They will work with the submarines to destroy the British sea lines. Britain and France simply could not withstand such a blow, so in a maximum of 6 months they would make peace and meet the demands of Germany. ”

It is unrealistic to drop 10,000 tons of bombs a day in Paris, but it is possible to inflict heavy damage on the British convoy with a fleet of destroyers and submarines.

The reconnaissance aircraft of the Broken Fleet can act as the eyes of the submarine, guiding the underwater wolves to attack the British fleet. At the same time, the "Scharnhorst" class battleships themselves were also a weapon for breaking diplomatic relations, and for a fleet without battleship escort, if they encountered "Shane" and "wolves" at the same time, they could only be completely annihilated. And a fleet with a battleship escort is not necessarily safe, because the battleship itself is the prey of the submarine. When the time comes, will it be more important for destroyers to protect battleships, or will it be important to protect merchant ships?

Mussolini's admirals had already conducted war games for such a difficult problem and came to the conclusion that "Britain would be very difficult to deal with."

"It seems that you do not have to go through Belgium and Luxembourg......" Mussolini seemed a little disappointed when he said this, and he paused, and asked again in fluent German, "I don't think you will unconditionally recognize the neutrality of these two countries, do you?" ”

"Of course!" Rudolph. Hess said, "First of all, to speak of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg government must be on Mary. Her Majesty Archduchess Adelaide apologized for the injustice she had suffered, and built a cathedral named after the Archduchess to commemorate her! ”

Mary. Archduchess Adelaide was the monarch of Luxembourg during the First World War, and because of her pro-German (she was originally German) during the First World War, she was forced to abdicate after the war, went to Italy to live in a monastery, and died in Germany at the age of 29.

"Luxembourg politicians who are responsible for the abdication of the Grand Duke, even the slightest responsibility, must immediately retire from politics and never enter politics again!" Rudolph. Hess added, "All Luxembourg newspapers that have published articles attacking the Grand Duchess must also be closed!" ”

Mussolini nodded, this condition ...... In fact, it is not too harsh, at least it does not propose to merge with Luxembourg.

"In addition, there is one condition," Rudolph. "Luxembourg must guarantee its membership in the European Union, the European Common Market and the Euromark Zone after the war," Hess said. ”

"What?" The Italian leader was stunned, "The European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark Zone?" Are you really going to do this? ”

Mussolini, of course, knew what the EU, the Euromark and the European Common Market were. However, he did not expect that Germany would be so determined to push them forward, and would not hesitate to use war to achieve their goals.

"Yes!" "We are fighting for a united Europe!" Hersmann said. Not only will we ask Luxembourg to join, but we will also have the same clause in the final peace treaty with Poland. If Belgium wants to gain neutrality, it must also join, and must also return the reparations to the cantons.

Otherwise, Belgium will have to return all the wealth that was plundered from Germany! This includes machinery that they dismantled and destroyed, indemnities, in-kind indemnities...... All of them are to be converted into gold and returned to Germany! ”

Germany, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and, presumably, pro-German Slovakia, Hungary...... Mussolini calculated in his mind that the European Union, the European Common Market and the Euromark Area included at least six countries. Sooner or later, the Netherlands and Denmark will also be able to enter, and Sweden, Norway and Finland will not be able to run either.

"Well, if France wants peace...... Mussolini asked tentatively.

"France will return half of Alsace and Lorraine to join the European Union, the European Common Market and the European Mark Zone." Rudolph. "In addition, the gold and foreign exchange reserves in the French banks must be deposited in European banks. This is also what we ask of Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland, and our own gold and foreign exchange will be deposited in the European bank headquartered in Geneva. ”

"European banks?"

"It's the European Development Bank," said Rudolph. "We plan to restructure it as a European bank, and all non-Euromark countries will take their stakes out," Hess said. The new European Bank will be responsible for discovering the Euromark, which will be the only central bank in the Euromark area. ”

Are the Germans really fighting for a unified European market? Mussolini was very surprised.

He asked, "What about England?" Will you also ask for the UK to join? ”

"No," Hirschman shook his head, "we will not ask Britain to join, they will be excluded from the European Union, the European Common Market, and the Euromark Zone, and what we demand from Britain is to return the reparations and the colonies." ”

Mussolini finally understood Hersmann's "victory route" and used bombing and blockade to force Britain and France into submission, while at the same time forcing or luring European countries into a German-dominated European Common Market and the Euromark Zone - just like the German Customs Union that once appeared in German history.

And this new "Europa Tariffs and Monetary Union" will also exclude Britain and the USSR (as Mussolini estimated), and Italy, of course, will not join it. This would ensure Germany's dominance in the customs and monetary union in the same way that Prussia had in the German Customs Union. Over time, Germany will be able to integrate the countries that have joined the "Europa Tariff and Monetary Union" into a single whole, which will be a continental country as large as the United States and the Soviet Union!

However, such a calculation may not be accepted by the British Empire, and neither will Italy!

……

Ukraine, near Cherkasy. The red flag has fluttered over the city of Cherkasy, and the glorious Workers' and Peasants' Red Army has driven out the evil white bandits and brought liberation and happiness to the poor and middle Ukrainian peasants around Cherkasy.

As the first secretary of the Ukrainian Bolshevik Party, Comrade Khrushchev also began to visit the countryside around Cherkasy, despite the threat of the small detachments of the White Bandit Army, which were still rampant.

It is now the season of the autumn harvest, and the wheat in the right-bank Ukraine is generally in good condition - it looks better than the left-bank Ukraine.

Moreover, there were many kulaks in the area, and the houses in the countryside were very beautiful and sturdy, horses were everywhere, and cattle and sheep were abundant. Khrushchev especially picked out the meal when he walked into several smoking peasant houses, and found that these Ukrainian rich peasants also ate very well, with a lot of meat and dairy products, and bread was almost open to eat. This made Khrushchev think very uncomfortably about "socialism" - the countryside of right-bank Ukraine seemed more socialist than the collective farms on the left bank......

"What about the poor peasants? How are the poor peasants living here? Khrushchev's car stopped in a Ukrainian village, he looked out the window and asked one of the leaders of the right-bank Ukrainian Bolshevik party organization who accompanied him on his visit.

"Comrade Secretary," the old Bolshevik, who had been fighting in right-bank Ukraine for nearly 20 years, was stunned, and then replied very seriously, "the people I have been visiting in the past few days are all poor peasant families. Most of the Cherkasy landlords and kulaks had fled, leaving behind middle and poor peasants who had little property. (To be continued.) )